Tunisia Full Year 2018: Isuzu (+1.2%) tightens hold on market down 19.4%

New light vehicle sales in Tunisia hit a wall in 2018 at -19.4% to just 51.348 units, while the parallel market is hit ever harder at -28.9% to 14.493. This fall was expected as 2018 marked a steep devaluation of the local currency, the dinar, as well as a 20% reduction in the annual quota of authorised imported cars in the country and various tax increases such as the VAT, benefit tax (IS), consumption tax and customs tax. 2019 should see sales bottom out thanks to a rise in import quotas. In the detail, passenger car sales drop 23% to 35.334 while light commercial sales fall just 10% to 16.014. Isuzu (+1.2%) cements its leadership with a very impressive sales gain given the context leading it to improve its market share by almost three percentage points to 14%. Far below are Citroen (-19.7%) and Renault (-21.2%) making the podium unchanged on 2017, while Peugeot (-16%) breaks into the Top 5 at #4, leapfrogging past Kia (-20.7%) and Volkswagen. Renault (-21.2%) stays on top of the PC ranking at 11.2% share above Kia (-21.1%) and Volkswagen (-21.2%) while Toyota steps into the Top 5, knocking Hyundai out. Isuzu holds a gargantuan 44.8% share of the LCV market vs. 39.8% last year, distancing Citroen (-24.1%) at 10.7%, Peugeot (+8.3%) up one spot, Fiat (-18.3%) and Dacia (-19.8%). In terms of parallel sales, Volkswagen (-40.1%) is still in the lead but falls hard, followed by Peugeot (-22.7%) and Citroen (-21%) with Mercedes (-31%) at #4. The Isuzu D-Max should logically remain the best-selling vehicle in Tunisia for 2018.